I flew from China to Taiwan a while back. I have an extend-able visa to Taiwan. Upon arrive in Guangzhou, I was informed I needed a Chinese visa to visit to Taiwan (which if you are up-to-date with cross-strait relations, isn't surprising). After making a stink, they forced me to take a Chinese entry visa and let me through to my gate. However, they refused to stamp an exit stamp as I left, so according to them, I am technically still in China (about 4 months past due). I flew to Hong Kong a month ago and made it in fine.

Since Hong Kong is a special administrative region, I'm not sure if their immigration authorities are connected. I need to apply for a Chinese visa here soon.

So, now to my question. I have two options; try and use my current passport as is, or get a new passport. If I made it into Hong Kong, does anyone know if I can make it into China? If I can then I can get the visa on my current passport. But, I would rather not show up to the consulate first and ask for a visa if they are going to deny me because of 'overstaying.'

Of all the places I wouldn't want to get into trouble over visas, China would top my list.
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Ankur Banerjee♦Jun 26 '11 at 18:55

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@Ankur I have alien residency in Taiwan... so China isn't to happy with me. I'm assuming this is why they are being harsh with me.
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GinaminJun 27 '11 at 8:21

If you have residency in Taiwan you should know you do not need a Chinese visa to come to Taiwan. You are entering and leaving Taiwan, not China. Also, residency visa are not 'extendable', they never have to be 'extended'. You were in GuangZhou WITHOUT a Chinese visa ? How did that happen ? If you didn't need a visa to get into China the first time, why do you need one now ? If you are outside of China , how could they get you for 'over staying'? It is obvious you would not have been China. I think you should make your question clearer.
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WenziJul 3 '11 at 11:09

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@Wenzi This is not an answer, I am aware I do not need a Chinese visa to go to Taiwan. Please read my question more clearly. Yes, at the time I had an extendable 3 month reentry visa. You clearly do not know much about Taiwanese immigration. You can fly through GuangZhou to China according to an agreement at the beginning of 2010 allowing 'cross-stright' flights. They made me take a visa to fly thought China to Taiwan. This doesn't answer anything.
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GinaminJul 4 '11 at 3:20

1 Answer
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If you are in HK, I'd suggest you go and talk with chinavisa.com.hk - I've got multiple visas from them before, and they are a lot more helpful than the local Chinese embassy. They also seem to have a few extra connections that might help in getting your current visa stamp issues cleared up.

For all intents and purposes China and Hong Kong are two separate entities, so a visa from one doesn't make any difference to the other. Hope that helps.

Yup, perfect. Just needed to know if their immigration offices are linked. I checked the link and will drop by. I've always been weary of visa resource offices, but it might be time to get over that.
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GinaminJul 7 '11 at 3:51